


Spring Fling Swimming (SFSw)

by gayyeop



Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: ??? - Freeform, Fluff, Friendship, Hotels, Humor, Lifeguard, M/M, Swimming Pools, Time Loop
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-16
Updated: 2019-07-16
Packaged: 2020-06-28 03:06:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,539
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19803451
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/gayyeop/pseuds/gayyeop
Summary: The beautiful man giggles, and Doyoung resists the urge to place himself back into his arms again. He's not a fan of harmless giggling but there is something different about this man. Is he flirting with him?"Yeah, it's fine. It is part of my job to keep guests unharmed."





	Spring Fling Swimming (SFSw)

**Author's Note:**

> For B, my writing buddy and hopefully boba buddy. For L, my no. 1 fan (because her birthday's soon!), and for my beta L, love you lots.
> 
> Most especially, to the prompter: I hope you enjoy at some point into this fic.

Doyoung likes cherry blossoms. He's seen the ones in Seoul and he thinks they're pretty cool. It has a variety of shades ranging from pink to red. Are there cherry blossoms that aren't pink? He wonders. Maybe asking that out loud would downgrade his aloof persona, due to his bad eyesight which Taeyong has commented a lot on because it intimidates the acquaintances he introduces Doyoung to, into something close to a dumbass. He's never really given much thought about seeing them in another country. 

Here is Japan, well-known for its cherry blossoms in spring where many book their flights even months in advance to see it in its fullest bloom. He also thinks they're equally as beautiful, if not more than those he's seen in the land he grew in for years (he admits when Taeil criticized him for telling him "we already have them here, why pay thousands to see them in a neighbouring country?" in the midst of his 'Why Cherry Blossoms in Japan are Superior' speech, ended up in the said confession with a smug smile on the older's face) based off the aesthetic photos he scrolled through under the #sakura tag.

So when he was offered to come along with Taeil and Taeyong's trip to Osaka in spring to sightsee, he was clueless of how to react.

A simple "huh?" does the trick.

His friends stare back at him in disbelief. Doyoung didn't need look up to know if they were; he already feels it. He blinks into the empty space of his room.

Taeyong snorts. "What do you mean 'huh?' We already told you Johnny's going to offer us a room at the hotel he works there." Taeil shakes his head and buries his face into his hands.

"This is the third time we've gone through the script for him. Why don't we just pack his things up for him and knock him out until he wakes up at our accommodation?"

"Taeil, I'm pretty sure that's illegal."

Doyoung sighs with 'aww dang' in the background, probably coming from Taeil. 

Maybe he should think this through. If years of friendship with these two has taught him a valuable lesson, it would definitely be not choosing decisions which weigh tons on his psychological welfare and weak heart within a span of a minute. Like that one time he decided to join their carpool and expecting to go home before his brother caught on, only for him to return a week later carrying a bag full of souvenirs he bought feeling bad about going back empty handed.

("Where have you been? You only bothered to send me a message," Gongmyung thrust his phone right in Doyoung's face, "'i'll be home soon don't worry.'? How could I not worry? What if--"

Doyoung pushed away Gongmyung's arm and handed the bag over to him. His brother, startled, looked at him in confusion. "An impromptu trip with Taeil and Taeyong."

"Oh." Gongmyung began rummaging through the bag with a smile, the worry on his face significantly lessened. "You should've told me you were with them. How was it? Did you have fun?"

Doyoung didn't bother answering his brother's fussing and slept.)

"Wouldn't I be just third wheeling?" 

"What do you mean? You've always been our honorary third wheel," Taeil does that thing with his face, sending signals to Doyoung on how  _ convincing _ his following statements would be, "Johnny's in Japan, Jaehyun acts like he doesn't know us, Ten didn't even last an hour with us. No one else but you can tolerate our friendship."

He reaches to Doyoung's hand and holds it down before Doyoung could slap it away and resist. Doyoung looks over to Taeyong with pleading eyes only to be met with eyes equally as desperate as Taeil's monologue. He loves his friends, he really does. They bring out the best in him in awfully unconventional methods that are sometimes borderline questionable. Like now. Why did it have to be him?

"You're our  _ favourite _ third wheel." Taeil squeezes clasped hands.

Doyoung begins to reconsider. Not because of their persuasion nor puppy eyes which makes him want to somehow fold his body into himself. But maybe, just maybe, it sounds like a delightful offer.

Something that could change up the pace of his tedious routine he's been on for the past couple of years.

Nothing too worrisome might happen, right?

Before the two could pick up the theatrics back up, Doyoung squeezes his hand out of Taeil's grip with much difficulty. Jesus, when did he start working out? "Yeah, thanks for telling me that in the most dramatic way you possibly could. So when's the trip?"

His vision was full of motion blurs with his friends' figures jumping into him at full speed before realizing he was being tackled into a hug.

"You're the best third wheel ever." Taeyong muffles into their dogpile, Doyoung sensing he stuck himself into his right arm.

"Honestly, I hate you."

"We love you too."

_

Whenever one accidentally trips or slips on the floor, you would assume their life would flash right before their eyes until a specific body part lands on the surface beneath them not a second later. Memories starting right back from your childhood leading up to regrets of not being able to do most, if not all, the things you'd want to do. And Doyoung isn't an exception. 

He has his regrets, albeit unsure which one: agreeing to join the trip to Osaka, falling for his friends' antics every damn time, or thinking that it was a good idea to roam around the hotel late at night.

Perhaps it's all three, or specifically the last one. He is probably looking at what's to blame for the dire situation he's in at the moment; a handsome man looking down at him in concern, his rear seemingly getting wetter with each passing second. Doyoung assesses it must be water from the pool, splashed onto the floor, waiting for its unsuspecting victim to walk by. Also, the man attempting to help him up is very,  _ very  _ handsome. Has he mentioned that?

"Are you alright?" The man asks while slowly pulling Doyoung's arm up. He's toned, Doyoung mentally notes. 

"I-uh, yeah, I-I think?" Doyoung chuckles in an attempt to laugh off his embarrassment in front of this stranger. He notices he's still holding on to the man's hand and pulls his hand from his grip in an instant, only for him to almost slip again. 

And of course, the handsome man has to get a hold of him before Doyoung actually ends up falling into the pool.

“Woah there,” The man flashed a smile at him while keeping both of them stable on the ground. Doyoung questions any slight inconvenience thrown at him, gets annoyed at some deity who keeps on working against him. But for this not-so-slight slight inconvenience, he doesn’t know if he should let himself be in his emotions or his legs (to run off and bury himself six feet under the ground.)

He chooses not to move.

“Why don’t we move to a safe and dry spot, huh?” Before Doyoung could even answer, the man was already leading them a distance away from the pool.

The indoor pool is massive; huge windows with a decent view of the clean streets and arranged buildings of the district they were in, designated benches surrounding half of the poolside where guests could rest, and a long row of lockers to place valuables and the likes. Doyoung only realizes as it took them quite a while to stop.

It actually took them a few seconds, may be less than twenty, but he feels like it's been several minutes.

"Sorry about that," the man breaks the silence and Doyoung looks at him. Well, tries to. "We didn't get to clean up the floor well and you could've gotten hurt."

"We?" Doyoung points out before his mind could even process and comprehend the context clues. 

"Ah, I work here," the man smiles and rubs his nape in a meek manner. "As a lifeguard, actually. It's my turn to make rounds tonight to make sure everything's spotless and people-free but," He eyes Doyoung.

Something Doyoung's mind rings.  _ So that's why _ , he muses when he felt the firm muscles underneath his arms. He remembers the position they were in; his hands holding on to the man's arms and the close proximity they have. He immediately detaches himself from him causing the man to get startled.

"Sorry about that," Doyoung makes rapid movements with his hands directed at the man, "and this," he stretches his arms gesturing the whole place. Surely, he doesn't feel like he's already making a fool out of himself in front of him. "And thank you. I would've been knocked out dead unless someone else would inevitably found me."

The beautiful man giggles, and Doyoung resists the urge to place himself back into his arms again. He's not a fan of harmless giggling but there is something different about this man. Is he flirting with him? "Yeah, it's fine. It  _ is _ part of my job to keep guests unharmed."

He's  _ definitely _ flirting. "No!" Doyoung's voice echoed in the room. He clears his voice and racks up his brain for some excuse to run. "No, seriously. I could have gotten murdered by my friends.. My friends! They're probably looking for me right now." Although an excuse, he realizes there's a high chance of Taeil would frantically look for him in every room in the place and Taeyong contacting Johnny's staff to organize a search party for him. Doyoung presses his hand against his temple, distressed. He unsure if he's acting or panicking for real.

"You should head back. You shouldn't let them wait any longer, yeah?" 

Doyoung stops in the middle of his internal battle with himself to take a proper look at  _ the _ man right in front of him. He has deep tangerine-coloured hair close to a shade of dark brown, clear eyes which twinkle (with the help of the minimum lighting they were standing at, his rationality whispers), and above all, a dazzling smile. Doyoung is a sucker for those.

His brain works itself up to do something that wouldn't add to his Kim Doyoung's List of Regrets as previewed earlier. 

He hums, "After I get your name." 

_ Good job, Doyoung _ . "I'm Doyoung, by the way," he introduces himself to save what's left of his dignity. 

"Nakamoto Yuta, at your service." Yuta, the beautiful man, performs with a tiny bow as what one would do at fancy places Doyoung could ever dream of going to. He wasn't even surprised to say the least. Doyoung questions himself if this was a successful flirting.

"That was ado-- I'll be going now. Bye!" Doyoung manages to stop himself from saying his thoughts out loud and further embarrass himself. He begins to walk towards the door and finds himself lost in his self-deprecating thoughts. 

"Doyoung!" He turns back to see Yuta pointing in the other direction. Doyoung didn't know what he expected when he heard his name, but he wasn't going to lie to himself thinking that Yuta retracts his previous statement and wanted him to stay. "The exit is this way. That's the staff backroom."

He nods, keeping his composure, and walks to the right door. Yuta seems like he was trying to keep his laughter in and Doyoung didn't want to give in, thinking that it was adorable. Once he was behind the door, he peeks through the glass.

Doyoung runs like hell to the elevator. 

He presses the button for his floor and leans his forehead on the cool surface of the metal. Closing his eyes, he takes a deep breath. Yuta waving and mouthing 'bye' to him through the glass door plays vivid behind his closed lids. Doyoung exhales.

He'll think about it later.

_

And he does, until he's seated in the plane, homebound. He's been thinking about their encounter at the pool ever since. Out of their week-long stay, he was only able to meet Yuta when they were to leave in two days' time. Cruel. That's what life is to him at the moment. Doyoung sighs, audibly loud for others to hear.

"Still thinking about that guy, huh?" Taeyong smirks while putting their luggage in the overhead bin. Doyoung wishes his bag to fall on his face to shut him up. "No."

"Okay, yes maybe. Just a little," he winces at his own words but tries to hide it, though it's the people who know him better than he does with himself he's dealing with. Taeil, sitting beside him, notices and scrunches up his face.

"I'm not sure how 'little' is on your scale, but if I remember correctly," Taeil faces towards him showing his fist and Doyoung doesn't like where this is going.

"One," he raises his thumb, "you couldn't shut up about this guy right after you arrived at our room when Taeyong was in the middle of a call with Johnny, asking for help to find your ass."

"Johnny almost got mad at me for that one," Taeyong sits down and chirps from Taeil's side.

"Two," Taeil raises his index finger, "every time we go outside of the room, you would always scan the area we were in and- uh-uh," he puts a warning finger into Doyoung's face, who was about to protest with raised brows. Doyoung settles back down into his chair, "No, let me finish."

Doyoung takes hold of Taeil's counting hand and squeezes it, a sign of plea. Taeyong, feeling a tiny bit of sympathy for his friend, pats Taeil's knee. "That's enough for today."

"Let's settle down and wait for the plane to fly, yeah?" Taeyong pacifies Taeil. Doyoung exhales a long breath. He has always been grateful for Taeyong's existence, recalling that one time when he had no accompaniment for his singing auditions when he was told he needed it during the last minute. Taeyong came through when he called him in panic and he beatboxed for his ballad performance. Thankfully, he was able to get in even with the uncharacteristic performance. Taeyong has always been the one to balance them out.

Taeil looks over to Doyoung with eyes telling him ' _ it's not over yet _ ,' and he gulps. Taeil faces front and Doyoung was able to breathe properly again.

He isn't that sad. 

Aside from meeting at the pool, they inevitably ran into each other at the hotel's hallways since Yuta would sometimes take on other roles in the place when it's not his shift. Doyoung would give him a glance, acknowledging him, and Yuta smiles back. They did talk; A small talk that consisted of Yuta asking him how long were they going to stay there and him frowning a bit before switching back into a smile when Doyoung answered. The last encounter they had was when Yuta waved Doyoung goodbye on his way out to grab dinner with Johnny together with Taeil and Taeyong. He mulls over how Yuta seemed to be joyed whenever they see each other.

Okay, maybe he  _ is _ sad. Sad for not being able to befriend him right. Sad for not getting to hang out with him outside of his work. Sad for not acquiring his contact, especially now he's uncertain when he'll meet him again.

Doyoung closes his eyes, preparing himself for the incoming turbulence from take off. He decides to nap his feelings away and deal with them once they arrive in Seoul.

_

The universe must be plotting against Doyoung. Why else would it be like this?

He gazes into the ceiling of their room, lying down on his bed. Cream white, he likes the colour. Doyoung doesn't really take notice of details in scenes he doesn't look much into, quite like their hotel room; Same ceiling, same bed, same place he has been waking up in the past week. It's mind boggling him how it's also the same timeline he's been waking up in.

Doyoung looks to the left only for the morning sun to blind him. He curses. He's supposed to be used to this. Have gotten used to.

"Oh, you're finally awake," Taeyong pulls the curtains to Doyoung's relief. In this timeline, he seems to be nicer in the morning towards him, thinking back to the very few times Taeyong jumped on Doyoung's stomach to forcefully wake him up.

"What's on the itinerary today?" He asks, even though he has every single day stamped into his head from experiencing it a handful of times now. "Nara Park, Taeil wants to see the deer and maybe feed them too."

(Doyoung screamed. "Please just," he extended an arm out, "take this and leave me be!"

The creature stared into Doyoung's eyes as if it were taking advantage of his fear of it. It slowly approached him. He was expecting to it eat the biscuit in his hand. Only for the deer to pass by Doyoung's hand and to bite onto the hem of his shirt.

Taeil laughed at him while Taeyong took a video of the scene. "Would you look at that, the deer loves him!" Taeyong provided commentary behind his phone.)

Doyoung groans into his pillow. Maybe he'll miss this one and see the difference with his decisions. Who would want to see those demons-in-disguise with antlers, right?

"I'll pass." 

"You sure? You might miss out." Taeyong stands in front of Doyoung's bed, coaxing him out of it by pulling away his blanket from his body. 

Doyoung pulls his blanket back with greater force. "No." 

"Ah, so you'll be spending the day at the pool then?" He hears the teasing tone to Taeyong's voice, but he knows better than to react against it after different variations of the comment in different times from Time Loop Taeyong has taught him. 

"Hm." Doyoung actually considers the idea. "Maybe I will."

"Oooh, who's going to the pool and hangout with his bodyguard over deer and his beloved friends?" Taeil approaches the two while drying his hair with a towel. If only they knew how much he hasn't missed out on their itinerary, they wouldn't be bothering him.

"Nobody," Doyoung turns his back on them, lying on his side, "buy souvenirs for me," he says even though he knows he probably won't be bringing back home anything, unless he figures out why he's in a time loop, including himself. He goes back to sleep, lulling to Taeil and Taeyong's conversation in the room before they leave.

Doyoung wakes up due to his rumbling stomach. He goes out of his room, but not without washing and makes sure to bring his key card with him.

If the universe is making him go through the same day over and over again, there must be a reason for it. To be exact, the following day after meeting Yuta. He has never reached the next day since he hasn't gotten a clue why and what will he do. Doyoung gets off the elevator to buy food at some nearby convenience store.

"Hey, Doyoung!" He abruptly stops in his tracks, almost tripping on air. He admits he almost forgot this would happen, which is uncalled for someone who has had the exact conversation several times. Or maybe he's still yet to get used to hearing Yuta calling him by his name.

"Yuta!" Doyoung looks at Yuta, who was wearing a fitted shirt compared to the 'previous' night's sweater. "Fancy meeting you here again."

"I think I did mention I work here, remember?"

He does, but Doyoung is an idiot who doesn't know how to communicate with beautiful people without making a fool of himself.

"Right, you did. Yeah," Doyoung laughs and Yuta must've noticed the nervousness in it so he giggles along with him.  _ He's so sweet _ , Doyoung coos internally.

"Ah!" Yuta exclaims as if he remembered his purpose of talking to him. "I was wondering how long you and your friends will be staying here," Yuta smiles in curiosity and strokes his arm with the other, and Doyoung guesses he's embarrassed. He ponders why, but the weight of having to answer him and seeing him sad over it falls on him. 

"We'll be leaving the day after tomorrow," Doyoung cringes from his answer but was able to keep his composure in front of him. It doesn't get any easier each time. Yuta does frown for a split second before smiling back at him. 

"Well, I hope you've been enjoying Osaka so far, it's a beautiful place." Doyoung stares into Yuta's face. The look he's giving him was so earnest that he has this inexplicable need to tell him that everything has been wonderful, as well as Yuta's company. And needless to say, he does reassure him:

"You're wonderful."

Doyoung was just as surprised, if not more, as Yuta. Contrary to Doyoung's (usually failed) assessment of the situation, Yuta seems to have taken the compliment well. But Doyoung was still in shock with his wide eyes avoiding Yuta's.

"Thank you. That-that was really.." Yuta's words faded into giggles, looking down on the floor. Doyoung's mind was propelling into the heavens. It wouldn't be too bad to go ahead and fuck himself over again, would it? 

"Do you," he clears his throat, "Do you want to eat lunch with me?" Yuta grins, and Doyoung feels like he finally did something right after a long time. "I know a place."

Later that night, Taeil and Taeyong arrives at their room only for them to leave again because Doyoung hasn't stopped laughing to himself, thus scaring them away.

Doyoung goes to sleep feeling a tad lighter, not realizing he wasn't worrying over waking up the same day as he has been.

_

Doyoung opens his eyes to the same cream white ceiling he's been accustomed to seeing every day. Discouraged would be the word he's been looking for every time he stares into this plain, flat surface. So he waits for Taeyong's cue to close the blinds once rays of sunlight began hitting his face. Or maybe Taeil. He starts to doubt the pattern he learned inside his mind.

He decides to get up and close them himself. Mounds of white blankets moving slowly up and down in intervals filled his peripheral. It couldn't possibly be what he's thinking. With his hazy vision, he moves toward Taeil and Taeyong's beds. His friends were still sleeping. 

"That's odd," he whispers to no one in particular.

Doyoung walks back to his bed and sits down, reaching for his phone on the nightstand. He checks his lockscreen. "What the fuck?" He frantically scrambles on Taeil's bed causing the older to groan. He needs confirmation.

"What day is it today?" Doyoung shakes Taeil on the shoulders, the latter wakes up confused and pained.

"What..? Today's Tuesday. Our free day?" Taeil groggily answers. "And yesterday? What was yesterday?" 

"Doyoung, I know your brain cell malfunctions sometimes but please, it's too early for this." Taeil pulls his blanket over his head but gives up in the end with Doyoung's weight causing him unable to do.

Doyoung stares at him. "Monday," he says monotonously. Taeil snorts in annoyance. "Congratulations, Captain Obvious. You got your answer. Now let me sleep in more."

"I'm going to cry."

"Then cry."

_

Doyoung enters the elevator with determination and presses the button to the floor where the hotel's swimming pool was at. Clearly, he was able to progress because he  _ chose _ to be with Yuta. He wants to laugh at himself. Is some deity helping him flirt with this mortal guy? It's not that he's complaining about it, but the fact that he had to go through the trouble of repeating the same timeline again and again has his head aching. But he'll take it with his whole being.

The doors open and Doyoung takes a deep breath. He has one mission, and it's to get out of the loop and go back to South Korea with his hotel lifeguard's number. He recounts. Make it two missions.

Doyoung enters the room with a firm resolve. The pool was as big as he remembered it to be, but with better natural lighting. He scans the area for Yuta and spots the familiar orange head swimming in the pool.

"Alright, Doyoung. You can do this." He does a fist bump into the air in which some kid near him got scared and ran away from him. He doesn't care so he continues walking, but he does care about Yuta who has just risen from the water and oh boy, does Doyoung really care.

His steps falter the moment he catches the lifeguard's gaze. Yuta throws him a smile, and it's not like the ones he has seen before. The light coming from outside the windows reflecting on the pool makes Yuta glow more than usual. Not to mention, the rash guard he's wearing riding up from the sport and showing a bit of his midriff. Doyoung laughs at himself in pity, making it look like he's smiling back at him. 

Once Yuta has gotten out of the pool, Doyoung moves towards him. He believes he's not that blind nor that clumsy, but the unseen puddle of water was about to show him he's wrong. Doyoung falls into the pool maintaining eye contact with Yuta. It's hilarious how he witnesses the transition in the lifeguard's facial expressions throughout.

It goes without saying that Doyoung, with teeth chattering and blankets piled on his body, wasn't able to get his number during this first opportunity. He learns that Yuta's shift lasts the whole day and he won't be able to take him out on another meal. Knowing this, Doyoung takes advantage of it.

(Doyoung sat by the pool. A handful of people are present, and he doesn't mind so long as he has a chance to execute his plans. He made sure he's been wearing appropriate swimming attire whenever he goes back by the pool the morning after his failed attempts. Someone up there must be laughing at him. Dare he thinks, he wants to have a word with them.

"You alright?" Yuta sat beside him, "You've been staring at the pool for minutes now. There's a bench over there, you can be there instead."

Doyoung waves his hands in dismissal. "I'll be fine here. Just thinking about--" he paused when he saw Yuta looking at him, "--things."

Yuta laughed at him. "Okay. Hope you don't mind me sitting here."

"Oh, no. It's absolutely fine," Doyoung nodded and turned to Yuta's direction, "Actually, there is something been meaning to ask you--"

The next thing he knows, he's suddenly underwater. A kid, Doyoung tried to remember if it was the same kid who he scared, ran into his back and bumped him right into the pool before even getting to ask him.)

  
  


(Yuta is a professional swimmer, aside from being a licensed lifeguard. The latter was a temporary job offered to him by Johnny, since he needed some extra cash for his expenses. 

"Explains the muscles then."

Yuta looked at him with a smile almost like a smirk, "What muscles?" he regretted saying it. Flustered, he tried to get up and leave but that damned kid was in the way. He had to avoid him and ended up backstepping into the pool.

Pool Kid, 1. Doyoung the loser, 6.)

  
  


(Doyoung mustered up his courage more than ever after his continuous efforts of pulling off the pick up lines well without harbouring any type of embarrassment.

"Is your name Flip Turn?"

Yuta laughed at the serious tone of Doyoung's words. "What?"

"Because I'm head over heels for you."

"Ah.." Yuta beams, "I don't do that in my event though,"

The last bit of Doyoung's dignity left.)

  
  


Doyoung isn't tired of it all; he's just on the verge of giving up even though he has started genuinely liking Yuta. He ran out of pick up lines and there's always someone or something preventing him from succeeding. He contemplates on staying in the loop and explore Osaka on his own whilst everyone else around him remain the same. Perhaps the latter is a bad idea.

He goes back to watching Yuta doing his shift. Sometimes, Yuta stays by his special chair for lifeguard. He would also do some actual swimming, too, in which Doyoung finds him and his posture graceful.

"You know," Doyoung stares at the drops of water on Yuta's sideburns, "I like your swim." 

"Thank you. That's a rare compliment for me." He looks down, swinging his legs back and forth playfully. Doyoung isn't really in his right mind anymore after being stuck in a time loop with a beautiful man, so he goes for it.

"Are you tired?"

"No," Yuta tilts his head, "Maybe a little."

"It must be because you've been swimming through my mind the whole day."

To Doyoung's surprise, Yuta let out the clearest and brightest laughter he has ever heard from him, echoing throughout the room but no one pays attention but him. His heart stops for a second.  _ He likes it? _

"You- you didn't like that when I used it on you before!" Doyoung furrows his brows. Yuta points to himself. "I didn't? Wait, you did?" he looks away in thought. "I can't remember."

(He had no other choice so he resorted to his final,  _ final _ option he didn't think he would come to.

"Are you tired?" Doyoung asked Yuta who was resting his arms by the edge of the pool after swimming towards him when he was called.

Yuta tilts his head. "Uh, no? Not really." 

"Because you've been swimming through my mind all day." Doyoung didn't wait for his reaction. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath before jumping into the pool to hide his shame.

Pool Kid, ???, Doyoung the Mighty loser, 14.)

Doyoung face palms himself. Of course, he didn't get to see how Yuta reacted to his dumb pick up line. He concludes, he's dumb. All this time, he would have progressed further if he put his humiliation aside. He shakes the thought off. Doyoung finds it alright. He calms himself down into thinking he wouldn't have it any other way than this just for him to realize it's alright to miss on a chance so long as he's certain it'll come again. The universe forced him to replay everything and supposedly, they weren't much of an asshole as he pins them out to be.

"I like it."

Doyoung looks into Yuta's eyes, curving a bit from the smile on his face. He feels his heartbeat progressively speeding up from the intensity of his gaze. His nose growing hypersensitized to the subtle smell of chlorine in the air. "You do?"

"Yeah," Yuta answers in a small voice, "yeah, I think I do."

Doyoung feels the sweat in his palms forming. "That's comforting. I got to make you smile before I go back home."

"You think.." Yuta starts, "when I go to Seoul, will you tour me around there?" Doyoung perks up. "Yeah, of course!"

He realizes. "How will I know, though?" 

Yuta looks at him as if he has three heads. "Uhm, I'll text you?" he says as a matter-of-factly with a bit of intonation at the end. 

He'll text him. He'll give him his number.

_ Oh my god _ .

Doyoung blacks out.

_

Doyoung was never good at flirting to begin with. He has his own fair share of crushes here and there, but is never the one to act on them to reach further and establish relationships. So when he witnessed Taeyong and Taeil pining with each other with neither party making moves to confess soon, he thinks back at all the times he should have.

Maybe the universe wanted him to get over with his incapacity to commit romantically.

He wakes up feeling cold, seated in an uncomfortable position. Doyoung opens his eyes to the familiar scene of the cabin. An airplane's cabin. He jolts up in which Taeil mutters a "hey, we just landed just stay still," and he fiddles around his seatbelt.

"I'm back?"

"Yes, you're back. We're back. The captain on board technically has announced it." Taeil tiredly leans back into his seat. Doyoung couldn't believe it. Darkness was all he saw right after he was able to get Yuta's number.

"What happened after I came back from swimming?" he nudges Taeil, unmoving. Taeyong answers for him. "From Yuta?" Doyoung rolls his eyes.

"Yes, from Yuta."

"Aside from you glancing at your phone nonstop throughout the rest of the day, we ate at a ramen shop together with Johnny." Hearing this, Doyoung hurriedly grabs his phone from his pocket and turns it on.

_ Message from Nakamoto Yuta (1) _

"Yuta did mention this morning you have to send him a message once we arrive at the airport. Hey, even I was surprised he even went to the lobby to see us out." Taeil squints his eyes at Doyoung, who was processing everything that's been told.

He swipes open the notification.

_ Next time, let's make sure we have a proper date. ;) _

Doyoung smiles. Going to Japan to see cherry blossoms wasn't so bad after all.

  
  
  
  
  



End file.
